Today marks the 10th anniversary of Toto Wolff's tenure at Mercedes this year, having joined the team on January 20th 2013. Prior to his appointment at Mercedes, Wolff was no stranger to the F1 paddock. He was brought in at Williams as a minor shareholder in the team in 2009, before owning 15 per-cent in the team by 2012. In 2013 he joined Mercedes in a managerial role as an executive director and shareholder, while Ross Brawn was still Team Principal. When F1 entered the hybrid era, Brawn opted to bow out of the Team Principal role and hand it over to Wolff to take over alongside the late Niki Lauda.
Dominating the hybrid era
2014 was a landmark change for F1 as it transitioned over to hybrid power for the first time, so producing a reliable engine with superior power was a priority for the three power unit suppliers: Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. Mercedes had put in a lot of development into their V6 hybrid, which showed when they turned up and won 16 out of 19 races in that first season of the new regulations. It set the tone for what would be eight years of dominance for the team, with Wolff surpassing the Team Principal record for most Constructors' Championships previously held by former Ferrari boss and FIA President Jean Todt. Trackside, the Austrian has become an iconic personality. Whether it's his outbursts to race control, encouragement to drivers on team radio, or his headphone smash at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Wolff is one of the most distinct characters in the F1 paddock.
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